Let’s be right about this Lebron version 2 and Sir Kev.

I can name at least 4 other SL wingers who could have done the same as Makinson so don’t get carried away.

Lonax and Conner made the fries TM finished them well as you would expect but nothing more.

TM thourougbly deserved his MOM and he is for now the rightful owner of that shirt. However there is some strong competition out there so he needs those performances to keep his place which is as it should be.

I’d like to see TJ given a run in the third test but even if he was to score another hatrick I wouldn’t drop Makinson.

Why you and your little gang have to make it about clubs and personalities I don’t get. You want the best England has to offer and at this level it will always be based on your last game.

So as I say TM and the other 16 are totally safe for now but don’t assume it’s forever red b or not.

Also I assume the minute Hall is fit he comes back in - I mean that is your logic after all.

You need to go back and watch that third try again you also need to look at the two try saving tackles he made in the first half.

Whilst others may have scored the tries and may have made the tackles those same players may have bombed the tries and the tackles.

The point is he got the chance nd did himself and the team proud.

And as for picking out two posters there are plenty more who remember the Johnstone before Makinson posts you and others made.

You can say the same about Johnstone’s tries.

Johnstone is a fine talent but McGillvary and Makinson have set an incredible standard for any winger wanting a place in this team. The performances by McGillvary in the World Cup and to a lesser extent in this series along with Makinson’s incredible introduction to test match rugby have pretty much sealed their places for any internationals we play next year.

I hear a lot about form and how players should be picked on it but international form should count for a lot as well as club form. At the minute they have so much credit in the bank it’s tough to see a way back in for Ryan Hall who’s been incredible for England for about 8 or 9 years or a way in for two freakish talents in Johnstone or Dom Manfredi.

having watched the game again, McGillvary was excellent. did a lot of the dirty work bringing the ball out, and always made a few post contact metres. a very underrated performance. his injection into the line early in the set leading up to the final try was very important

Yeah he did his role well, unfortunate he didn’t get anything wrt ball in good attacking positions compared to the other wing but that’s the way it can be on the wing sometimes.

I think what you are seeing is McGillvary and Makinson playing better than there Superleague form, it was the same with O'Loughlin about 5 years ago he was a better player at international level than his super league form.
Hodgson for most of his international games was completely the opposite but the weekend he's managed to perform at the level expected, do we credit Bennett for that.

Bennett seems to like his players to be error free with a certain amount of grit and determination, Johnstone and Manfredi are very talented but they will need to do something special when the opportunity comes there way.

Makinson has a lot of attributes which gives him so much 'strength in depth", you get the same amount of involvement and impact on the team be it if he plays Full Back, Wing and Centre, I,m not sure if all our other wingers can cover that attribute at international level.

Sorry to disappoint, but me calling out a stupid post (similar to yours) doesn’t make me another Lebron/Jean account. Also, I think you’ll find it was the post that I quoted who made it about clubs and personalities by calling BJB as good as Makinson. In fact, you did as well.

Makinson was excellent all game and I doubt that there are any other wingers who would have come up with the defensive efforts as well as the attacking ones. He’s been the best winger in SL this year and it’s nice to see him finally get the recognition he deserves.

Think we’re in a position now where it can be a combination of both international form and club form with the depth we have which we haven’t had previously and meant some players got picked even if they didn’t have a great club season.

Whilst some players have had good games in this series, last time we beat NZ in a series at home in 2015 the MOM awards in our 2 victories went to Brett Ferres and Matty Smith so I think it’s a bit early to name anybody on a team sheet for matches that are 12 months away.

We that's the crux isn't it - you doubt. Yes he had a great games but he's had some stinkers in his time. Truth is you don't know, nobody does but IMO there wasn't one peice of defence or one try scored that couldn't have been scored by any of the top five SL wingers and I 'doubt' I'm wrong.

Read my lips TM now holds that shirt through merit, it's his to lose. That however doesn't make him te greatest winger in SL, if it did McGillvary would be the second and he isn't (not that he had a bad games but he's not the player of two years ago).

Finally he hasn't been the best winger in SL this year, Johnstone has, as the try scoring charts show - that isn't a maybe, that is a total absolute stone cold not even a Saints fan can twist it fact!

Tom Johnstone has more tries sure, but is soundly second best in every other stat. Makinson plays outside Morgan who isnt a wingers centre. Most of Saints attacking goes down Percivals wing.
By your benchmark, Ade Gardner was the best winger in SL due to the amount of tries he scored outside Gidley and Lyon. Johnstone has missed the same amount of tackles as Makinson but attempted 100 less which is an absolutely shocking stat. So you wonder why opposing fans call him a speed bump? Makinson has 7 times as many try assists and nearly 20 more Tackle Busts.

There is absolutely no comparison between the 2

This is why Bennett has chosen him.

this thread has gone seriously OFF TOPIC....tut tut

Please stop proving a point to with stats. It stops the ahem.. healthy debate that goes on on here.

I agree. There is more to being a winger, these days, than putting the ball over the line. By your own admission, people like Eden and Gardner have been the best SL winger's due to being top of the try scoring charts. If Johnstone was the best winger in SL, then he wouldn't have been dropped by Chester earlier in the year.

Wrong.

Compare Makinson to every other Winger in the top 10 (in the try scoring table). He has attempted at least 50 more tackles than Johnstone, Eden, Faraimo, Lineham and even Grace who plays in the same team. He carried the ball more than them all, made more metres them all other than Lineham and he also assisted more tries then them; despite this he scored less tries than every single one of them.

Makinson is a different style of winger and in my opinion should perhaps be moved to the centres as I'd say he'd be more effective, maybe not in the Saints team with Percival and Morgan. It's a difficult one but the role of a winger to "put the ball over the line" is very much still the same and outlined by the stats.